Premier League - Paper Round: United under fire

Eurosport - Wed, 09 Sep 13:47:00 2009

Manchester United's dealings are under further scrutiny after FIFA admitted that they were being investigated over the signings of youngsters from Fiorentina and Empoli.

2009-2010 Manchester United Alex Ferguson - 0

United have vigorously defended allegations from French club Le Havre that they "stole" young midfielder Paul Pogba, and have even threatened to take the French club to FIFA for refusing to release his registration.

And the Italians are getting in on the action too, as Gael Kakuta threatens to become the new Jean-Marc Bosman.

The Times revealed a FIFA statement which said that they "were contacted by Fiorentina regarding the transfer of Michele Fornasier to the English club Manchester United" but that "no formal investigation was opened since the relevant documentation needs to be completed".

FIFA also said they "were contacted by the FA on behalf of Manchester United with regard to the international clearance of Alberto Massacci" after Empoli and the Italian federation failed to transfer his registration.

The robbing of young players from so-called 'feeder' clubs continues to rear its usually French-speaking head, with Sun columnist Ian McGarry taking the interesting angle of pointing the finger at greedy parents. He cites alleged (but unnamed) examples of parents of English players demanding houses in the Caribbean merely to sign up with an agent and the sisters of players being offered horses and Mercedes cars.

Regarding tonight's big World Cup qualifying clash between England and Croatia, most papers lead with Fabio Capello thanking Slaven Bilic for doing his team-talk for him. Bilic mischievously accused the England team of "losing some of their Englishness" in terms of their playing style, which led Capello to say "I have no need to motivate my players after this. It's fantastic assistance, my players are very determined, so thank you".

The Telegraph reckons that Emile Heskey "leads the race" to start alongside Wayne Rooney for the big match, despite Jermain Defoe's quite incredible recent record for club and country. The choice over who will play on the right has not been made yet, although it seems Aaron Lennon has won that one by default of being quick and not having played poorly against Slovenia (Daily Mirror).

Out-of-contract Australia defender Lucas Neill could end up playing in England after all as his proposed move to Atletico Madrid hit the rocks (The Sun). Neill, 31, is a free agent after leaving West Ham and had his heart set on a tax-busting move to Spain. The football's not bad there either. But, despite losing John Heitinga to Everton, Los Rojiblancos have not followed up their interest and, short of a move to the Middle East, Neill will have to bite his tongue and cough up 50 per cent of £40,000 a week at Sunderland. Makes you sick eh?

Former PSV, Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool, Marseille and, erm, Middlesbrough winger Boudewijn Zenden could return to England with Hull and Burnley set to scrap it out for the Dutchman's signature. Zenden, 31, is a free agent so can go where he likes, when he likes, which is not Portsmouth (The Sun).

Hull's Daniel Cousin has snubbed a loan move to Cardiff (The Sun). The French-Gabonese striker is keen to stay in the Premier League, even though he is not able to go anywhere until January, so will stay and fight for his place at the KC Stadium.

Middlesbrough are set to sign Zurab Khizanisvili on loan from Blackburn when the transfer window reopens today after bids for Sean St Ledger (Derby) and Matthew Kilgallon (Sheffield United) failed. One man who will not be joining Boro is Derby striker Rob Hulse, who wants to stay and play for Nigel Clough. Queens Park Rangers' former Fulham and Watford striker Heidar Helguson is next on the list (Daily Mirror).

David Beckham has been tipped with a move into club ownership in North America, although the souring of relations with LA Galaxy fans means he is likely to switch franchises and even countries - Canada's Montreal Impact, who are a division below MLS but vying for inclusion, are reportedly his target.

The Times suggested that the FA's financial problems following Setanta's demise could be solved by Carlsberg. The beer will renew a £50m sponsorship deal, covering most of the shortfall in TV revenue after the Irish broadcaster went bust. That means Carlsberg will continue to be the official beer of the England team and FA Cup. The news is not so rosy regarding Wembley Stadium , though - The Guardian highlighted that a net operating cost of £86m for last season makes it far from the cash cow the FA anticipated. Oops.

Eurosport

Comment 50 - 69 of 69

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  1. That`s why they sold ronldildo cos they knew they were­ gonna get caught !
    Just get the cheque book out and all­ the problems will go away....

    From Bike 69, mabaho ka !, on Wed 9 Sep 5:30PM

  2. On another note, the Italians and Spanish have been­ acquiring young players from South America for years­ and the French have recruited many young teens from­ African countries. Legally of course, but where's­ the compenstation for the clubs they've been­ 'poached' from? No different to what they are­ accusing the English clubs of, not a very nice­ practice, but again, not illegal. A bit of the pot­ calling the kettle black me thinks!

    From roisinconlon, on Wed 9 Sep 4:12PM

  3. All these haters that say they can't wait to see­ the book thrown at us, keep hoping. We have done­ nothing wrong. It is not Utd's fault that laws in­ Italy say a player cannot sign a contrct until a­ certain age. If the clubs in Italy have a problem they­ should lobby the Government to amend the law or pull­ out of the EU. All clubs do it, how do you tink­ Arsenal can field a team of teenagers week in week out,­ they have used these loopholes same as us, same as­ Liverpool, Chelsea etc etc and I repeat, if it is not­ illegal there will be no consequence.

    Chelsea messed­ up and broke the law and rightly have been punished. ­ These clubs are now using the Chelsea story to­ highlight the fact that while Chelsea did it illegally,­ the practice goes on completely legally as a matter of­ course by many many many clubs. FIFA will have no­ choice to put these complaints where they belong, in­ the bin of course. We may not agree with the practice­ but it is not illegal and it is up to these clubs to­ lobby their own governments for changes in employment­ law, not cry to FIFA.

    From roisinconlon, on Wed 9 Sep 4:02PM

  4. number 64 is a very stupid moron who can not spell or­ write an article that is true or makes any sense. COME­ ON MAN U !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From M S, on Wed 9 Sep 2:36PM

  5. NO64
    YOUR ENGLISH IS COMIN' ON A TREAT

    From vegasmufc, on Wed 9 Sep 2:17PM

  6. they deserve it!

    From damnsoldja, on Wed 9 Sep 1:38PM

  7. everybody knows that united is an unfair cheater!­ punish them!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Wed 9 Sep 1:38PM

  8. nice to see michael Sheilds has been released, a­ scouser getting a royal pardon! Well done Michael

    From FoeyP, on Wed 9 Sep 1:35PM
  9. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    I think nobody will punish MU! They are the dirtiest c­ h e a t e r s in brittain, but always be protected by­ the FA, by FIFA, by the refs etc.etc. I hope they gonna­ get punished this time! And the "MU fans" are­ lieing to defend there's club's, but they know­ too, that MU is a dirty c h e a t h e r club! Punish­ the dirty, dirty manunited!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Wed 9 Sep 1:30PM

  10. Question: There are 4 people in a car, 3 of them­ Liverpool fans. Who is driving?

    From Half A Brain, on Wed 9 Sep 1:28PM

  11. Simple way to stop all this is let U18's sign­ binding contracts and not a pre contract a greement­ thats really worth nothing. OF course you end up with a­ whole other mess when you start signing 5 year olds to­ 20 year binding contracts but thats the only other­ option.

    From Liam L, on Wed 9 Sep 1:18PM

  12. aniki t what are talking about? how many players­ completely dissappear when joining a big club only to­ reappear 8 years later with no first team football­ under thier belt for a lower league club? For every­ player who makes it into the first team there are far­ more players who's careers are ruined by big clubs.­ They are being poached from smaller clubs where they­ will actually have the opportunity to play first team­ football, and then progress. Lower league team's­ purpose is not to sustain big clubs.

    From James, on Wed 9 Sep 1:13PM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    This is a complete conspiracy that FIFA (or English FA­ whatever) is trying to bring down MU manually, just­ becasue MU is so good monopolizing the English and­ European top leagues. They want uncertainty in the­ leagues but not something like MU is always crowned a­ couple of games before the season is over. This is­ what wee see in HollyWood movies, you know, the good­ guy is always weakened by some "coincidenct"­ incidents and the bad guys always look scarily evil but­ strong. But don't worry my MU supporter fellows,­ cos at the end of movies, the guy would always beat the­ 5hit out of the bad guys as well as the conspirators­ before the scene, as this is obeying God's willing.­ C'mon, MU!!! We are the best ever!!!

    From sexy.beast08, on Wed 9 Sep 1:12PM

  14. DEFINE BINDIPPER? WE HAVE WHEELIE BINS NOW LAAAA WAY­ TO TALL TO DIP INTO, WE WUD HAVE TO CLIMB INTO IT SO­ SHUDNT IT BE NOW- BINCLIMBER?

    From psycho p, on Wed 9 Sep 1:07PM

  15. NO41
    WHAT DOYOU CALL A BINDIPPER IN A WHITE SHELL SUIT­ ? THE BRIDE
    WHAT DO YOU CALL A BINDIPPER IN A SUIT ?­ THE ACCUSED
    WHAT DO YOU CALL A BINDIPPER IN A DETACHED­ HOUSE ? A BURGLAR
    HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO

    From vegasmufc, on Wed 9 Sep 1:00PM

  16. SCOUSER LAAA,...........ANYONE GOT ANY­ VERA'SSS....LURRRVLY

    From psycho p, on Wed 9 Sep 12:56PM

  17. nowadays they wanna protect minor clubs... but they­ didnt know that they are not protecting those kids as­ they stuck in a small club achieving nothing...

    From Aniki T, on Wed 9 Sep 12:50PM
  18. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    NOW THAT MAN CITY HAVE GOT TEVEZ AND LESCOTT, DO U­ THINK THEY WILL TRY SIGN SIMON WESTON??

    From psycho p, on Wed 9 Sep 12:49PM

  19. Michael, comment 26, GREAT comment. France national­ team is 90% black while its football population is not­ even 10% black. The reason is they pick these sons of­ new immigrants and lure them into the under19 and­ under21 and then they choose which ones to play. The­ rest get grilled for life (well lately FIFA allowed for­ under21 to change nationalities which fixes some of the­ problem). But many of France players are not born­ there, of parents who are not born French either, and­ they have another citizenship before going to France.­ And don't you ever think that this players poaching­ is a consequence of economical, political and social­ assistance from France to African countries. They just­ get the best and throw the rest.

    From Half A Brain, on Wed 9 Sep 12:49PM

  20. Cor blimey 'psycho p' must have the quips lined­ up!

    Here's a good one!

    'What lives in the­ sea and get's caught in nets?' Yak1 yak! yak!

    From Sid, on Wed 9 Sep 12:49PM
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